To this day, both Sweeney and Cobb admit taking money but say they didn't really participate. We might have worn the hand-me-downs of the families that she worked for, but we always had clean clothes. Ernie Cobb weighed 180 lbs (81 kg) when playing. Duality underpins practically everything about the brief existence of the KD, Harden and Kyrie Nets. With Roccos high school buddy Rick Kuhn entering his senior year at Boston College, where he was expected to be a contributor to the schools basketball team, the brothers figured they could make a ton of money. ''I hadn't seen Ernie for several years,'' says Jack Hennessey, a Boston College psychologist who was an informal academic adviser to varsity . I told him, I think were gonna blow them out, we look really good. I didnt think anything of it. Man, I was really into bikes, Cobb said. Checkout the latest stats of Ernie Cobb. I feel like if I can change one life, like he changed mine, man, it makes everything Ive been through worthwhile.. He quickly thrived and was recognized as one of the leagues best players. The film also benefits from the fact that most of those involved agreed to speak on camera, including Sweeney, fellow accused BC players Ernie Cobb and Michael Bowie (who were completely vindicated), law enforcement officials and all the principals on the organized crime side of the story. After he interviewed him, he fell in love with him and told me, Hes innocent. I dont know if they recognize it, but B.C. He ate, drank, and slept basketball. The guy called Herm and said, Ernies a good kid and hes going to be coming to your school, said Cobb. Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. I told him that he was going to have to work very hard and that he was going to have to do things the right way if he wanted to be successful, said Alswanger. Boston College Guard and former Stamfod High School standout Ernie Cobb drives past St. John's Frank Alagia during a game in 1976. Last Name. Boston College (1978-79) Conspirators paid Boston College players, mainly Rick Kuhn and Jim Sweeney, to shave points depending on the spread and opponent. Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Basketball Reference Database. It was like a paradise to me, coming from where I came from. Everything Id worked so hard for was coming to fruition.. My character grew, along with my basketball skills. At the close of the two-week trial, Alswanger was the last character witness who took the stand in Cobbs behalf. The Globe, quoting an unnamed source in New York, said the three games in which point-shaving was alleged were a Feb.3 game against Fordham, a Feb. 6 game against St. Johns and a March 1 game in the ECAC Regional Playoffs against Connecticut. They left, and that was that. The scam was born when Jimmy Burke (De Niro's Jimmy Conway in the movie) and Hill recruited Boston College players Rick Kuhn, Jim Sweeney, and Ernie Cobb to manipulate scores to cover point spreads. I said, If this dude has cash like that to burn and wants to give me $1,000 because I told him wed destroy Stonehill, sure, Ill take it. Maybe he was trying to cultivate a relationship with me and soften me up for something down the road. But for many, there is a fierce bitterness that still lingers to this day. Experience for 11 years as a high school mathematics teacher. Please give him a chance. They were a massive disappointment, yes, but also so transcendent for brief moments. And he also cultivated interest, in the area's black community, in terms of being engaged and intrigued bywhat was going on with Boston Colleges basketball program. Boston College, Draft: But Im so proud of him because he picked his life back up and made the best of it. He loved being able to play ping pong, shoot pool and go swimming, but there was one place at the facility that he loved above all others: the gymnasium. They were comparing him to Calvin Murphy, the great pro, who was similar in stature and who was from Connecticut, said Alswanger. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Cobb and Sweeney admitted to accepting money, but both deny willingly participating while on the basketball court. On Saturday Morning, March 24th, 1984, a tiny blurb in newspaper sports sections across the nation read Ex-basketball star Ernie Cobb was acquitted Friday of taking part in a point-shaving scandal that rocked Boston College in 1978-1979, and tearfully asked for a fair shot to resurrect his chances at a pro career. I just had to be alone, Cobb told the reporters afterwards. A wake will be held for Dr. Cobb-Stevens on Monday, July 16, from 4-7 p.m. at the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 475 Main . I hadnt seen Ernie for several years, Jack Hennessey, a psychologist at Boston College that had served as an informal academic advisor during Cobbs days as a student, told the New York Times in April of 1984. "Fixed" follows the point-shaving scandal of the 1978-79 Boston College basketball team. Name: Ernie Cobb; Position: Point Guard; Height: 5-11 (1.80m) Weight: 180 (82kg) College Team: Boston College Eagles; Nationality: American; Birthplace: Stamford, Connecticut; Birthdate: 8/31/1956; Drafted: Selected by the Utah Jazz in the sixth round (109th pick overall) of 1979 NBA Draft. I had a relentless type of game.. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Hill won six games, but didn't begin to win wagers until Boston College's star Ernie Cobb joined the scheme for the last five games. All content 2000-2023 RealGM, L.L.C. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Some had connections to various upper-level gambling circles and some were connected to the mob as we take a look . All of Henry Hills and the Perla brothers information was coming from Rick Kuhn, and who knows what he was saying to them to cover his own skin., (Jim Sweeney, Photo Credit: tampabay.com), Kuhn and Sweeney got in over their heads, Cobb continued. And after they put my name out there, and after I admitted to taking that $1,000, they didnt have enough evidence to prosecute me. Will I ever totally leave Boston College? Players profiled in the book include Rick Kuhn, who pulled his teammates into the plot and paid for it with a 10-year prison sentence; Jim Sweeney, a prep school graduate and honor student who found himself trapped between gamblers and a conscience that wouldn't let him cheat his teammates; and leading . age of adaline comet. At that point, I was looking forward to a trial, said Cobb. His girlfriend, whom hed met during his first week on campus, was an upperclassman that knew how to navigate the schools academic landscape. No one in my family had even graduated from high school. I wanted my name cleared and it took a long time.. He doesnt belong here and I think he can really make something of himself if somebody gives him a chance.. There were a lot of rich kids who went to Boston College. Cobb was always a competitive kid. I was eating Rory Sparrow up, who went on to have a decent NBA career, in that camp. He stopped in my office with his bike with the flat tire and borrowed $20 to get it fixed and to get home. The thoughts continuously raced through Cobbs mind: how had he arrived here, he wondered, of all places, charged with allegedly conspiring to commit sports bribery while allegedly fixing college basketball games for the Mob? At 11:05 a.m., United States District Judge Leonard Wexler completed his instructions to the jury in the Federal Court Building in Brooklyn as Ernie Cobb awaited his . Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. He had all of this ability, and he worked so hard, said Alswanger. But well come back to that later. The story captures Cobb's fascinating journey beginning with a challenged upbringing and the appearance of an unlikely mentor in Hermy Alswanger, to college basketball fame and then to the unwelcomed notoriety associated with being falsely linked to the Boston College point shaving scandal. Using extensive background research as well as interviews with the principal characters, Fixed provides the first in-depth reconstruction of the point-shaving scandal involving the 1978-1979 Boston College basketball team, from the genesis of the plot in the summer of 1978, through the uncovering of the scheme during an unrelated investigation in 1980, to the trial that captivated the sports . Hill flew into Boston, at the behest of Jimmy Burke, late in 1978 to meet with Mazzei, the Perlas, Kuhn and Sweeney at the Logan Airport Hilton and ensure that everything was in place. Here was this kid who had all the odds stacked against him, and he was so committed to being successful., His focus and work ethic was amazing, Alswanger continued. Burkes gang had just successfully pulled off the Lufthansa airport heist at New Yorks JFK airport, where theyd stolen an estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels, the largest cash robbery in America at the time. I kept me a shiny, new bike.. | Jackson State Ices Thee Pregame Show, Detroit Mercys Antoine Davis Creeping Up On Pistol Pete Maravichs All-Time NCAA Scoring Mark, A Poor Mans Danny Ainge A Poor Mans Jeff Hornacek: Michael Cooper Torches JJ Redick. These Boston College basketball players were way better than being involved with "Goodfella" Henry Hill and his underworld associates. The motley crew next ensnared Boston College's leading scorer, Ernie Cobb. A Maryland Dumping Site Was Actually A Black Cemetery. Of course, the damn players had a million excuses, Henry Hill wrote in Sports Illustrateds bombshell story, How I Put The Fix In, which was the magazines cover story on February 16th, 1981. us, College: I was forthright and honest with them. won by only two points and I had a lot of losing money down on this game. He craved to clear his name once and for all. 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